The TL;DR
The European Commission issued preliminary findings on Friday accusing Meta Engineering Facebook and Instagram of being addictive, telling them to disable auto-play and automatic endless scrolling or face fines of up to 6% of global revenue. The findings come days before an EU expert panel delivers its recommendations on the minimum age for social media.
The European Commission issued preliminary findings on Friday accusing Meta of creating Facebook and Instagram addiction, giving the company a legal chance to respond before Brussels reaches a final decision that could result in fines of up to 6% of annual revenue worldwide. Based on Meta’s estimated 2025 revenue of $201 billion, that ceiling sits at about $12 billion.
The Commission’s case focused on the architecture, not the content. The investigation, which opened in May 2024, found that features such as autoplay, endless scrolling, and highly personalized food recommendations “fuel the user’s desire to keep scrolling and switch the brain back into ‘autopilot mode,’ which contributes to unhealthy habits and compulsive consumption.”
What Brussels wants has changed
The commission told Meta to disable autoplay and endless scrolling in the default settings, implement active screen time breaks, and rework its recommendation algorithm away from maximizing pure engagement. Time management tools already built into applications, it said, are too easy to override and “do not lead to meaningful reduction and control of service use.”
Meta disagreed, with spokesman Ben Walters saying the findings “do not accurately reflect the important steps we have taken to protect young people.” He pointed to Teen Accounts, introduced on Instagram in 2024, which “automatically protect teenagers and put parents in control.”
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The Commission official responded that the New Accounts can be easily dismissed and do not provide enough conflict to change the common usage. Parental controls also require “considerable technical expertise, time and effort,” the findings said, placing a greater burden on families.
Pattern of findings
Friday’s action is the third set of preliminary findings the Commission has issued against Meta under the DSA. Previous lawsuits have accused the company of failing to keep children under the age of 13 off social media and to provide adequate transparency to outside researchers.
The theory of the addictive design of debt is not new in Brussels. The commission objected to the reward-based interaction features of TikTok in 2024 and issued the first findings of the same against the addictive design of TikTok in February, making Meta the second major platform to receive this specific payment.
The minimum age is Monday
The timing is deliberate: a panel of experts appointed by Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is expected to present its recommendations on Monday on whether the EU should set a minimum communication age. Von der Leyen has already signaled support for the restrictions, with a legislative proposal likely to come in the autumn.
EU child safety legislation has faced repeated delays due to conflicts between privacy law and content scanning proposals, but political momentum behind age limits has grown across the bloc. Twenty-three of the 27 EU member states are currently considering or have passed legislation restricting children’s access to social media.
Regulatory pressure is piling up
The addictive design findings come alongside a separate Commission ruling that Meta’s “pay or consent” advertising model violates the Digital Markets Act. Meta disputes both sets of findings, and no final decision or penalty has been issued in either case.
Preliminary findings give Meta the right to examine the evidence gathered and present a formal defense. If the Commission confirms a violation, it has the power to enforce structural remedies and, if that is ignored, periodic penalty payments in addition to the basic penalty.
